ok, just got out of moscow and now I remember what I didn't like about it the last times I was there. the first few times I went I was a bachlor and you don't really notice the city itself when you are busy getting laid all the time. but the city really sucks. cold, gray, you can't get a decent meal for under 100 bucks, you have to be really carefull not to get ripped off or mugged. I could live a while without going back, although I think I will be back in a few months. at least it will be spring. The one positive point is the huge number of hot women, all figuring that you may be their key to a better life. this led me to think of my least favorite cities: dhaka - right up there. bangladesh is where the rivers on the east side of the indian subcontinent drain, and so bangladesh is one big ole cesspool for a good part of the year. very very poor, the streets are literally under water for months of the year, people walk around in water up to their knees (the poor people, that is). oh, and they don't really like jews. so, there is nothing that makes me feel better about lousy hotel food and moldy hotel walls and driving through streets full of people up to their knees in sewage like reading in the daily local english paper that my kind are plotting to take over the world..... I went 4 times. on the 5th time, I was in the airport waiting for my flight from 11 am until 8 pm, in calcutta (calcutta is sort of like dhaka with training wheels). when they do board us, I casually ask if there was a technical problem with the flight. the answer - no, the fighting was too close to the airport and the pilot was scared to go. so I ask, "is the fighting over?" and they say "no, but it is farther away from the airport and the pilot is willing to fly now". so I decided to send somebody else. gaza - like dhaka, but without the water. refugee camps, poverty, violence.

Manila. Despite being brought up in Northern Ireland in the seventies, and visiting this city in my physical prime, I was quite nervous for most of my visit. The city is groaning under the weight of pollution belching trucks, etc., and the traffic gridlocks for hours on end. The poverty is grim, even by SE Asian standards, and feral children roam the streets hunting for food. The people I met were all friendly though. Londonderry. A city with little self pride or respect, it is a virtual war zone at night of drunken chav scum fighting among themselves, or robbing the naive tourists it tries to entice with its history. The level of litter, stench of urine and gangs of drunken scum make it a poor place to visit after the hours of darkness. If you want to walk around the historic walls then do so early on a Sunday morning, the street cleaners will have done their best with the litter (along with Police they seem to be the only people who work in this place or get up before midday) and the natives are either all in bed with hangovers or in custody after assaulting each other, rioting or beating up their attractive, but foul mouthed women. This place has the highest occurrence of teenage pregnancy, the highest level of violent crime, the highest levels of unemployment and the cheapest house prices in Northern Ireland if not the whole UK, these figures are normally a good indication of what you can expect.

Mine: Seoul... beautiful in some places, but terribly polluted, extremely crowded, some areas are miles upon miles of concrete jungles that look exactly the same, if you are ever here in winter, it's quite depressing. Liverpool: This city had some cool places, but always seemed a bit rundown to me. Ciudad Juarez: This is about as big a cesspool as you can find, and you wonder why people want to flee here to go to the US. I personally like Manila, I've been there many times as I had products manufactured in the Philippines, It's certainly dirty and polluted, but the people seem to be happy, even though they live in an area ripe with natural disasters and even though they are poor.

Paris - dog mess capital of the world, and home of the restaurant and cafe rip-off. Londonderry - what Nonk said. London - apart from some oases of taste and pleasure, London in general is dreadful. Unreliable, dirty and expensive public transport, ludicrously expensive and viciously controlled parking, inadequately policed, inadequately cleaned, and presided over by a newt-fancying lefty lunatic.

Paris - dog mess capital of the world, and home of the restaurant and cafe rip-off. Â

Ah, only if you don't know where to go. I've had some amazing meals (though almost always lunches) in Paris in the past year that cost no more than 15 euros a head, including decent house wine and an aperitif. It's all in the knowledge, or the research, as most here could attest. The dog problem though, it is bad, but Buenos Aires is just as bad, if not worse.

I have to say that I did not actively "dislike" Manila, over and above my feelings for the country as a whole (Lapu Lapu City is worse, but I did not know if any forum members would know the place) It was just my least favourite city of the many I have visited in the region. I am fairly relaxed about the places I have been to. My advice is go to Malaysia or Thailand if considering a SE Asian destination for a holiday, avoid The Philippines or Indonesia (overrated) Interesting that London has been mentioned, as 15 years ago it would have been at the top of my list, but as I get older my interests change and I now appreciate what it has to offer, and my (infrequent) visits allow me to sample one of it's fantastic museums or theatres when I do, which make the trip special for me. (I am like a 5 year old every time I go to somewhere like the Natural History museum) I do not think it has a snowball's chance in hell of getting the 2012 Olympics though. Go and see the Reduced Shakespeare Company next time you are there, it is hilarious.

Of course, my feelings on London are coloured by my having to work there for a year, and spend 3 hours a day commuting on the Underground. As for Paris... I think the advice Nelson gave to a midshipman in 1794 remains extant, but then I am English.

Interesting you mention Amsterdam. I was afraid to put it down here. I just found it cold and dank, with a drifting floating scum of college-age pot tourists and generally bad food. Add to that the homicidal cyclists zipping by, the not-so-clean canals (an entire mattress floated by me), and a language which sounds like the guttural love child of German and Arabic and I guess I wasn't too happy there.

Interesting you mention Amsterdam. Â I was afraid to put it down here. Â I just found it cold and dank, with a drifting floating scum of college-age pot tourists and generally bad food. Â Add to that the homicidal cyclists zipping by, the not-so-clean canals (an entire mattress floated by me), and a language which sounds like the guttural love child of German and Arabic and I guess I wasn't too happy there.

That's funny. Â I always liked Amsterdam. Â I have heard many people say they have the best looking women in the entire world there.

I absolutely love Amsterdam and the women here are definitely amongst the best looking women in the world. Basically every type you could look for are right here in the city. What I especially love is that you feel free to do whatever you like. Basically our attitude is, as long as you don't hurt anyone else you can do whatever you want. However the city does have a darker side to it. Mostly they have something to do with tourists not able to restrain themselves when they are in Amsterdam. People hear all these wild stories about the city and just go nuts because nobody at home will ever find out. The climate is terrible too, it can rain a lot. The word 'dank' isn't in my vocabulary, but Amsterdam can be very cold. It's not in Italy or Spain, remember that. During the summer the weather is usually pretty nice. Around 25 degrees Celsius. But during the winter it's freezing with a lot of wind and rain. That is basically why I am planning on moving to the south of France

Actually, I have visited Amsterdam many times, and it's one of my favourite cities. I spent a few days at the Krasnapolsky last Christmas, which was very pleasant. I can't say I noticed an excessive amount of dog mess. I did notice a massive increase in errrm, non-Dutch people - because we had luggage we took a taxi from the Centraal Station to the Krasnapolsky, and the driver didn't know the way. For those who don't know it, it's about 300mtr in front of the station. The situation was not helped by his inability to speak Dutch. Or English. Or German. Or French. Serbo-Croat seemed as if it might be familiar, but just about all I can say is 'NATO, stop or I fire.', which may not have been helpful. I seemed to hear many more foreign languages than used to be the case - or maybe it's just me...